Ivory Coast has held a funeral for former President Robert Guei, nearly four years after his assassination.

Mourners gathered in Abidjan Friday for a simple ceremony. Since Mr. Guei's death in 2002, his body had been kept in a morgue in the capital.

Controversy surrounds the burial plans. Mr. Guei's son has decided to bury the former president in Abidjan, but members of Mr. Guei's political party are protesting that decision. They say he should be buried in his home village of Kabakouma, which is in the rebel-held north of the country.

Mr. Guei seized power in 1999, ousting then-President Henri Konan Bedie. He ruled less than one year before he was forced from office by huge demonstrations. He was assassinated in September 2002. No one was ever tried for the killing.